You've seen him act on film and television, maybe even heard his voice in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, but you may not know that Williams is also an accomplished artist. Before he started acting, he attended the National Academy of Design. His work has been on display in the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian. Now, he's turning to Disney for inspiration. Williams will appear at the upcoming D23 Expo on August 19 to celebrate the grand opening of the redesigned Star Tours attraction and sign autographs. He's also working on a new painting featuring himself jamming in a jazz ensemble with Disney's "fab five" (that's Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto), though it won't be ready to unveil in time for the convention.

IGN was among a handful of outlets invited to participate in a conference call with Williams, in which he talked about his love for both Disney and Star Wars. He said that if Disney were to make an animated version of The Empire Strikes Back, he'd like to see Mickey Mouse play Lando. Why? Because he is, as Williams puts it "an Oreo cookie." "He's beyond the question of black or white," Williams says. "He's both black and white."

Williams has not yet had a chance to ride the recently re-opened Star Tours ride, but he's looking forward to checking it out. Several new destinations from the Star Wars films have been added as part of the experience (including Hoth, Naboo, Tatooine and Coruscant), but Williams was disappointed to hear that Cloud City wasn't among them. He imagined Lando would be a welcoming host to any travelers who wanted to visit there, with one big caveat: "As long as Darth Vader isn't following behind."

With the Blu-ray releases on the horizon, we took the opportunity to ask Williams his thoughts on seeing the films in high definition. "It will be interesting," he said. "With all the new technology that's out there right now, I'm always curious to see how it's improved."

Williams says he isn't bothered by all the tinkering Lucas has done to the films over the years, and that each time a different version comes out, it just attracts a new generation of fans. "It's fine with me," he says. "It can only be good, I guess. It's a phenomenon. The whole thing is a phenomenon. It's going to continue to be a phenomenon for many generations to come. Even my grandson now, he's into it. He's three and a half years old."

When asked about a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi involving Lando, Han and Luke in a sandstorm that will be included on the Blu-ray, Williams says he has no recollection of filming it. His fondest memories of the experience were the scene where Lando was choked by Chewbacca and "standing up to Darth Vader, for about three seconds."

Williams jokes that much of Lando's swagger came from his own persona. "I thought that making him into a kind of charming, roguish kind of character would be a good way to approach the character," he says. "It's me, I think. I think much of the character is me. I think I'm a rather charming kind of a guy. Plus, I was pretty handsome in those days [laughs]."

Even after all this time, Williams hasn't shied away from reprising the role of Lando, or making fun of his own stardom. He's voiced the character in video games and television cameos, including the Robot Chicken Star Wars specials, appeared as himself (or a heightened version of himself) in everything from Lost to Jimmy Kimmel videos to In Living Color and made meta references to his career in guest roles on That '70s Show and the movie Fanboys. Ultimately, Williams sees himself as simply an artist, no matter what the medium.

"I always look at myself as a kind of eclectic person, with eclectic interests," he says. "But I don't know. My whole existence has somehow revolved around the arts, and that's pretty much what my life is all about. And I'm very happy about that."